She jerked her mind away from that path and looked back to Fabricio. He’d mussed his hair across his face so it covered as much as possible, but his bangs were too short to hide much more than his eyebrows and the top of his eyes.

For the first time in a long time, she pitied him. She knew what it was like to be that afraid of family, she knew how parents could warp you as a child. But it still didn’t excuse what he’d done to Nita.

Nita stepped closer to Fabricio. “Relax.”

He turned to her with large red eyes. “Excuse me?”

“You’re with Kovit and me.” Nita gave him a cold smile. “If anyone you know tries to take you from us, we’ll make sure it’s the last thing they try to do.”

Fabricio blinked, and then a small, sly smile came over his face. “Are you trying to comfort me, Nita?”

She stiffened. “Of course not. Just stating fact.”

His smile fell from his mouth, but his eyes were steady and solemn. “Thank you.”

She jerked away. “I wasn’t comforting you.”

People like him didn’t deserve comfort.

Her words clearly had relaxed him a bit, because he was less jumpy as they boarded the bus into the city. The drive was long, and the houses and soccer fields and trees all blurred together in her jet-lagged mind. Kovit napped, head resting against the window.

Nita stared out the window, mind whirling, thinking of how she was going to break into Tácunan Law and steal the information. She’d need to scope out the building—she’d have to do something about the security cameras, certainly. She didn’t want any record of their escapades existing. And there would likely be guards, so she’d need to think of a way to handle them. She’d need a hard drive too. With that much information, she might need several, all of the best quality she could find.

Beside her, Kovit gasped, and Nita blinked herself out of her thoughts and looked out the window. A massive stone fountain loomed beside them, rearing horses elaborately carved to be leaping out of the water, their legs turning into sea foam.

“It’s amazing,” Kovit whispered, face pressed against the glass.

Fabricio smiled, his eyes soft and dreamy. “Isn’t it? There’s nowhere quite like Buenos Aires.”

Nita wasn’t sure what she’d thought Buenos Aires would look like. Maybe something like Lima, smaller office buildings in the business core, wide streets, lots of Spanish colonial architecture that had evolved over the years into something else, something a little unique and different. Colectivos running up and down the roads calling out destinations. A long beautiful path along the cliffs overlooking the ocean, floripondio trees and overpriced shopping malls lining the water.

Buenos Aires looked nothing like Lima.